Influence of fundraising infeasibility on accounting changes : An investigation into early financial reporting practices using text mining

Purpose – This paper aims to analyze early financial reporting practices and discuss the influence of fundraising infeasibility on accounting changes, focusing primarily on depreciation accounting practices. Design/methodology/approach – London and Birmingham Railway Company (L&BR) is a representative railway company whose practices laid the foundation for nineteenth century British railway accounting. All reports prepared by L&BR after each annual general meeting were analyzed using text mining. Keywords were extracted and the changes were observed, thus facilitating the prediction of accounting issues. Furthermore, the keyword contexts were confirmed using a search engine. Findings – This paper suggests that fundraising infeasibility might have influenced changes to the depreciation accounting practices at L&BR. Research limitations/implications – Being a historical study, it necessitates investigations into practices of other companies. Practical implications – The findings suggest that not only the negative operating results that previous studies claim but also the infeasibility of raising funds by issuing new shares might have influenced changes to the accounting concepts and accounting practices in the early-nineteenth century British railway companies. Originality/value – The accounting changes at L&BR could be important because they indicate that the management had reached the point at which it did not need to depend on fundraising via the issuance of new shares. This was an early sign of the development of self-financing.